The Grey Skid – Chevy Beat TCDi LS (December 2012)

[deville_56]

December 2022 - Bodywork

Bottle jack slipped the boss and caused a dent in the running board. I was ignoring it, but then there was a hole developing in the middle from a cracked putty job.

There was also some peeling from putty crack in the rear bumper. Now that qualified for a paint shop visit. Dropped at Murali's where I have been doing all the paint works recently with VFM and decent finishing. Quoted ₹ 5,000.00 total.

Took a bus after a long time. KSRTC City Circular, the ₹10 bus.

Bumper came nice.

Quarter panel and fuel lid were also painted. Diesel/Chevy assistance sticker amalgamated into the paint, causing irreversible damage. I have been advocating against sticker job on painted surface in TAI for some time, this being the reason. I have seen the worst with factory stickers (the white Scorpio). I fear the same with PPF stickers too.

The running board was properly pulled, unlike a full Bondo work, but they didn't care to replicate the rough surface, which the previous painter did perfectly.

Alloy wheels turned disastrous. The owner promised to level them up and paint, instead it was painted as such. Called up him to complain and he asked to bring back when the shop is free as it takes time.

Painted everything in the way, didn't mask anything.

Not even the rotor or the caliper. Drove home with unbearable grinding noise.

Used paint stripper to clean the rotor. Thinner didn't work.

Ultimately, removed pad and sanded vertically.

When I was about to keep back the jack, spotted water in the boot.

On inspection, found the rubber grommet dislodged. The lights were out during body work and the car was standing in rain for a week at the body shop.

The carpet was all wet.

Took some effort to dry it out.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Which beach was that ?

I had an accident, I am fine, my ride got rear ended. Ride is in Melaranoor, will post detailed in my thread.

Sad to know that Murali also is out of quality.

 

[deville_56]

Which beach was that ?

Puthenthope Beach.

I had an accident, I am fine, my ride got rear ended. Ride is in Melaranoor, will post detailed in my thread.

What happened?

Sad to know that Murali also is out of quality.

The worse is yet to come.

 

[deville_56]

December 2022 - Good Times Won't Last Forever

The Incident – Brother took the Skids and caught up in a pile up. As usual, the catalyst was an auto, who decided to take a hard left without any warning. Pickup behind him panic braked, Beat swerved to avoid, but hit the corner and an RX100 hit from behind. While pulling over, the auto and bike guys escaped. A police patrol came by and stopped. They took photos and took a brief of the incident. Accompanied them to the Police Station and asked for the proceedings. Didn't have the registration number of other two parties, so nothing could be done from their side to catch them. Had to make GD entry for insurance claim. The system has changed, and we have to do it ourselves online via their portal and have to collect the report once approved after investigation. The whole thing wound take around 10 days. Car was in running condition, so asked him to bring it home and go to Akshaya to file for GD. While at home, he broke the antenna in panic while parking.

Headlight and fender took the major hit, while the hood had a minor hit. Headlight covered the major part of the three-quarter, making it look like heavy damage.

Rear had minimum damage. Newly painted bumper. Clamp got bent and wrapped around the fuel tank.

Insurance Claim

My first claim and first time with Acko. With New India declining claim for Fiesta, had only little hope in the claim settlement. Used Acko app to raise the claim, which was pretty easy, just the summary of the incident. Got a call back in 30 mins confirming the incident. Then, uploaded photos of the car, all sides, engine, and chassis numbers and detailed photos of the damage. They assessed and called back providing the details of settlement. Also sent a spreadsheet with parts, labour, and deduction details. Offer amount was decent. My expectation was a four digit figure, but they shocked me with the settlement.
Gave me three options:
1. Get it repaired at any Acko-approved garage (which included ASC).
2. They will send someone to pick the car and return after repairing with warranty.
3. They pay (minus deductibles), I repair.
Options 3 seemed convenient. Had to upload passbook, which I couldn't find in time. Uploaded the next day morning and claim was settled by noon. The whole claim process happened in less than 24 hours, started by 11 AM and last mail from them to upload the last piece of document was 4 PM.

(To be continued)

 

[deville_56]

December 2012 - Parts Hunt and Prepping

Took a day's off from work for parts hunt. Searched the dealer first and then all the prominent spare shops, out of stock everywhere. Left side fender and light were in high demand and fast selling. Everyone had RHS in stock. I wanted type 2 headlights, which no one stocked and everyone gave a 10-day timeframe.

Spotted the original and facelift side by side in the same Sand-drift grey shade. Front and rear for comparison.

Loved the facelift spoiler, but rare and hardly anything sold. They removed the spoiler from the top variant and offered as an add-on accessory towards the end. If I remember right, rear wash/wipe also disappeared in the end-of-stock top variants.

Plan B, part 1, spotted a Beat at a used-car-part seller, China Town on FB Marketplace. Price seemed reasonable on chat. Went there to fetch the part. Got it removed from this red Beat, damaged the bottom part a bit. They had a grey a week before, which was sold off as complete body shell and had spoiler. Paid ₹ 1,200.00 for the fender, side marker came free.

Bundled along was the boot lamp and

rear washer nozzle.

Removed the fender when I got bored waiting for the lights.

Pulled the bumper out.

Finally, lights arrived. ETA from Boodmo was 7 days, compared to 10 days by dealer and other channels, but screwed up by Blue Dart. They kept it for another 4 days, making it 11 days total. Had to run pillar to post to get it delivered. They delivered the same day I found out their warehouse and was about to go for a brawl. Picked them up from @vishnu vichu 's house. He managed to get it with 6% discount and free shipping.

Headlight Assembly LH - J95281478 - ₹ 6,276.38 (MRP ₹ 6,677.00)
Headlight Assembly RH - J95281479 - ₹ 6,432.42 (MRP₹ 6,843.00)

Type 1 lights were around ₹1300 cheaper a piece on MRP.

The transporter S-Presso.

The light.

Too much itch to trial fit.

Front Bumper Fascia Bracket - LHJ95091641 - ₹ 215.26 (MRP ₹ 229.00)

Made in Korea

Actual size of the light.

Antenna Rod - J95430002 - ₹ 455.90 (MRP ₹ 485.00)

A small road block, park light/headlight leveller connector were different. Type 1 had 3 pin, type 2 had 4.

Type 1/2 comparison. New one gets piano black inserts.

The pseudo-park light-pod disappeared.

Rear looks the same.

Installed RH light.

Pressure washed the LH. Cleaned all the glass debris. No garage is gonna do that for me.

Finally debadged. One, for their convenience, two, long pending in bucket list.

Stored for future use, if any.

Polished the old light and posted in Olx and FB marketplace. Sold out in no time, even before the car was back from garage. Posted at half the price of brand new one, the guy didn't negotiate, gave it for a grand, which I felt was reasonable.

(Again, to be continued)

 

[deville_56]

December 2022 - January 2023 - Resurrection

Left the car with Mr. Murali for repairing as his body work was great and body painting came nicely last time and the promise to fix the alloy wheel remained. Work was pretty slow paced, may be due to the year-end rush. Work started after two days and fixing the fender took four days, but as expected, the body work came nicely. Visited daily and/or overseen by my friend Arun, who is nearby.

Prepping and painting took two more days. Everything was promising.

Finishing was superb on photos.

On close inspection, there were such pores on every part painted.

90% of the bonnet had sand paper mark in addition to othe pores.

Removed the logos to make their job easy, but what they did was ....

Body-coloured masking tape.

Took a day's off and stood there to get these corrected. The painter (the guy who screwed up) buffed the bonnet and polished and I pointed out the mistake again and again and after two rounds of polishing, he lost his cool and started abusing me. Everyone else in the garage agreed with me and repainting or a deep buff and clear coating was the only way out. Called up the garage owner and he too agreed an error has happened and asked to bring back the car another day as the garage was full and he will repaint it for me and fix everything. He was a soft-spoken elderly guy, so believed his words (again) and left and dropped the car another day. He called and informed work was over. Hood turned up nicely, all pores were gone, but the sand paper marks remained, but cleverly covered with (so called) Teflon coating. Boot and fender were untouched. Alloys were further screwed up, front wheel was half matt/half gloss and again the rotor was painted. Met the owner and noticed a difference in his tone. No point in arguing further. Took the car and left. End of a long-term rapport.

Started fixing things to my capacity. The fender was not fully painted, could've applied primer at least before installing. Masked and sprayed grey primer.

Hood insulator was missing and found it in the boot.

Fortunately, all clips were in the cupholder.

Windscreen washer nozzle was painted shut. Poked it open and cleaned with thinner.

Dedication of the polishing guy. Most of the roof was missed.

Legendary.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

This is not pathetic workmanship, rather lazy job, taken for granted attitude. Thanks bro, for tipping me to avoid this garage.

 

[deville_56]

This is not pathetic workmanship, rather lazy job, taken for granted attitude. Thanks bro, for tipping me to avoid this garage.

Yes, indeed. I've recommended this place to at least 10 people, and one thing I noticed was the outcome depended on the car. Soon-to-be extinct like cars are done pretty badly, another example was my friend's first gen Verna. The more friendly we behave, the worse they get. Never kept a bossy attitude with any mechanics, which I think I need to learn to survive.

 

[Auto_Psycho]

That was one of the worst paint jobs I've ever seen..
Even better results can be achieved with DIY.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Devi Auto Works : Melaranoor

Now managed by Reji (S/O Late Mr.Raghu).

They use Autocolor2k paint, now they have paint mix facility also (They are not taking paint from outside).
Charge bit on higher side. Workmanship so far so good. All the staffs are old ones who used to work since his father's times.

 

[deville_56]

That was one of the worst paint jobs I've ever seen..
Even better results can be achieved with DIY.

Yeah, crap by any standard.

Devi Auto Works : Melaranoor

Now managed by Reji (S/O Late Mr.Raghu).

They use Autocolor2k paint, now they have paint mix facility also (They are not taking paint from outside).
Charge bit on higher side. Workmanship so far so good. All the staffs are old ones who used to work since his father's times.

Went there twice during father's reign and was not satisfied then, so never went back. First time, similar approach, small job, lazy approach. Second time, the colour didn't match the other panels, and he talked us to believe it's the same and there was overspray all over the glass. Shop was suggested by DuPont and a (government driver) family friend who resides in the quarters nearby. Most disheartening was using the same dirty cloth for all processes, sanding, washing, etc. Things might have improved over time.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

I don't ask them to wash because of the same reason, they still use the same old cloth I think

 

[deville_56]

January 2023 - Misc Update

Resting. Next task was mating the park light and headlight leveller connections. Version 1 had 3 pins and version 2 had 4 pins. Asked the painters to not bother about the wiring.

RH and LH connectors respectively. Connection goes like this.

Blue (RH)/Yellow (LH) - Park light/leveller positive. Leveller works only when park light is ON
Brown - Output from leveller switch aka the leveller signal.
Black - Ground.

New light had same colour-coding on both sides. Connection detail.
Red - Leveller positive
Brown - Park light positive
Blue - Signal from leveller switch
Black - Ground

Finding the park light connection was straight forward.

Tested connections with old motor. Old motor had Ford marking inside, got some Ford relation.

The leveller switch is just a potentiometer. Demonstration on how it works.

Scavenged SMPS connector for connectors.

Sleeved, connected and glued.

Connected leveller and park light positives together to work on stock harness.

Custom jugaad connectors to plug into the harness.

Ready to install.

Plug and play. Used black and brown to match the harness colours. Used red for the third aka positive. Anyone with common sense can connect them back, in case.

Success.

Park light bulb was KHA make, a Kumho subsidiary,

Manual adjustment.

View from behind. Left bolt is up-down, right one right-left.

Headlight bulb was Phillips make.

Level was slightly off. Did a bit of manual adjustment.

Done and dusted.

 

[deville_56]

December 2022 - Insurance Renewal

Continued with Acko.

IDV ₹ 202567.00


Own-Damage Premium - ₹1270.00 (₹635.00 after 50% NCB)
Third-Party Premium - ₹ 2094.00
Consumables - ₹ 40.00
NCB Protect - ₹ 34.00

Net Premium - ₹ 3,308.71

(Renewed insurance before the accident, thus the 50% NCB)

 

[bhvm]

December 2022 - Insurance Renewal

Continued with Acko.

IDV ₹ 202567.00


Own-Damage Premium - ₹1270.00 (₹635.00 after 50% NCB)
Third-Party Premium - ₹ 2094.00
Consumables - ₹ 40.00
NCB Protect - ₹ 34.00

Net Premium - ₹ 3,308.71

(Renewed insurance before the accident, thus the 50% NCB)

Looks really cheap. Or maybe its due to small petrol engine..?